Egg cooker



w. FfsE'RR May 12, 1942..

EGG COOKER Filed May 29, 1940 //v VENTOF? wwaw RAM 8% ATTORNEY Patented May 12, 1942 EGG COOKER William F. Serr, New York, N. Y., assignor to Eric Pusinelli, New York,

Application May 29, 1940, Serial No. 337,750

2 Claims.

This invention relates to egg cookers and more i V particularly to a cooker including an individual egg cup adapted for cooperation with a liquidcontaining vessel for the steam cooking of eggs.

Various types of egg cookers have been developed, among which are poachers for immersingthe egg in boiling water and including either a single cup adapted to fit an individual watercontaining vessel of comparable size, or cookers including a plurality of individual cups supported on a rack or like device in a. larger In the case individual egg cup isprovided which is adapted I to hookingly engage over the rim of a vessel of suitable size, independently of any supporting means other than the side walls of the vessel itself. Any desired number of individual cups,

up to the capacity of the vessel, can thus be em-- ployed, the cups being adapted for insertion and removal individually and each provided with a handle of such construction that the danger of burns to the person using the cup is minimized.

In one preferred construction, the element has a relatively shallow cup with a flat periphery and from one side of the periphery there extends upwardly a lip or clip inclined slightly away from the axis of the cup which will permit the lower portion of said cup together with the lip to suspend the poaching cup in position on the inclined or vertical side of a pan or pot, as the case may be.

The far end of the lip or clip member is proand dimensioned receptacles either singly or-with a plurality of other cups and which can be placed upon a tray, rack or other plate for serving purposes.

Various other features and advantages of the inventionwill be apparent from the following particular description and from aninspection of the accompanying drawing.

Although the novel features which are believed to be characteristic of this invention will be particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto, the invention itself, as to its objects and advantages, and the manner in whichit may be carried out, may be better understood by referring to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing form-,

ing a part hereof, in which Fig. l is a top plan view of one form of egg cooking cup formed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational View of the cup shown in Fig. 1, taken along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the cup in Fig. 1, taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical, cross-sectional view taken along the line 44 of vFig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a somewhat diagrammatic .reduced view in perspective showing one mode of use of a plurality of egg cooker cupsconstructed in accordance with the invention.

In the following description and in the claims,

' various details will be identified by specific vided with a further extension preferably in the plane of the rim of the cup which extension is provided with perforation and preferably with a ridged or grooved portion extending around the perforation.

An object of the present invention is the provision of an improved egg cooking device which can be inexpensively manufactured of durable material at low cost and which does not require a cooperating receptacle of special construction but can be employed with any of innumerable different sizes and types of kitchen receptacles or vessels. I

Another object of the invention is the provision of an'improved egg cooking cup which can be employed with any one of a number of shaped names for convenience, but they are intended to be as generic in their application as the art will permit. Like reference characters denote like v parts in the severalfigures of the drawing.

Referring now particularly to the drawing, the egg cooking cup 21 is formed, as by stamping, from relatively thin sheet metal of sufiicient rigidity to maintain its shape during normal uses. The material preferably is of such nature.- and such thickness, however, as to permit bending or shaping of the handle portion of the cup as hereinafter described. "'One material which I have found suitable for forming the cup is aluminum;

The cup 21 has a bowl I of generally shallow, dished form and provided with a. fiat bottom I I, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. The lower side portions l2 are curved and merge with the flat bottom H and withsubstantially vertical side walls l3 which are'integral with a fiat, horizontal, flange-likerim M. The rim. l4 pref- V erably is polygonal in shape and I prefer that it be octagonal, the corners l5 providing points of support in certain cases for the cup-upon The distal portion of the handle extends from the rear leg l9, preferably approximately in the plane of the rim I4, and provides a finger: grip portion 20 for handling the cup. The fingergrip portion 20 may be of any desired shape, as for example, diamond shape, but should be sufficiently wide, at least at its central=portion,-to provide a good gripping area.

In order to stiffen the handle and increased radiation surface, the handle is formed with-a plurality, preferably two ridges or corrugations 22, extending from adjacent the rim l4 and continuing at 23 until they meet at the rear most end of the finger grip portion 28, as indicated at 24. Additional cooling of the handle is provided by a perforation 2| which, in addition, cooperates with the ridges 22 .to insure against the cup slipping out of the fingers. The perforation. 2| may, if desired, be shaped to correspond with the shape of the finger grip portion 20 or, if desired, in manufacture, 4 it may be simply a square or circular perforation.

The handle, while stiffened by the ridges 20,

to provide f or top edge of the side wall 25 and are maintained horizontally and at a level above the water 28 or cooking food in the vessel 26.

The cup of the present invention is suitable for use with-vessels of innumerable shapes and dimensions regardless of whether they are generally circular or rectangular in shape. Moreover, since the cup has a flat bottom wall, it can be placed upon a tray. or plate and will remain upright without the necessity for a rack or other support.

orinto thenormal area of the vapors.

Owing to the light gauge of'the metal from which the cup is constructed, it ispossible'to cook the egg very rapidly and in fact, it can be cooked by steam alone and need-'not be in contact with the liquid in the-vessel. f

The' side --I 6 of the rim l4 extends chordally relativelyto the wall of "the vessel." Thus, the

7 ends of'the side provide'with the leg IQ of the is nevertheless made of such material and of such thickness that it can, with not too great effort, be bent to conform to the shape of the rim and adjacent side walls of the vessel with which the cup is to be used. If it is desired to use the cup with a different vessel, the clip portion 11 can be readily reshaped by the user. The material should be suchthat the handle can be subjected to numerous slight bendings, without breaking, where thecup is to be used with various vessels. 1 I I The portion I! is so shaped that the cup 21 is maintained substantially in horizontalposition adjacent the rim of the vessel with which the cup is used. This 'not onlyprevents spilling of the egg, but also permits the cup to be entirely above the liquid in the vessel so that the egg is entirely cooked by steam. On the'other hand, the suspending of the cup in a horizontal position permits the water level to stand nearly to the rim portion 16 of the cup without intermingling of the liquid and the egg in the-cup; the

rim may, if desired, be made somewhat wider than illustrated, in order to preventany of the liquid in the vessel from bubbling up over the rim of the cup and into the interior. e

The U-shaped portion or clip I! extends above the plane of the rim portion 16.; Therefore, when the cup is hooked on the rim of the vessel, the .boWl I0 isjustbelow the rim, thereby per mitting a cover to be applied to the vessel, if desired. The handle is sufficiently thin and flat so that it does not interfere materially with the application of a cover to the vessel, regardless of whether. the cover is one having an internal rimhandle a three point engagement with the wall of the vessel. Accordingly, the cup is supported in a stable manner in the rim'of l the vessel.

- It is generally preferable, for convenience and economy of manufacture, to form the cup by pressing or stamping it from sheet metal. However, -where-a heavier cup is desired, it may be formed by casting. I

While certain novel features of the invention have been disclosed herein, and are pointed out in the annexed claims, it will be understood that various omissions, substitutions and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit of'the invention.

This application is acontinuation-in-pa'rt of my copending-application, Serial No. 158,825, filed August 13, 1937,110W'Patent No. 2,232,? 38, granted February 25, 1941-.

What is claimed is:'

f lgAn in dividual, egg-size 'cup for a steamin egg cooker, said cup being formed from relatively thin sheet metal and-comprising an imperforate v bowl and'a sheet metal handle'integral with and extendinglaterally fromsaid bowl, said handle I being formed;intermediateitsends' with an inverted U-sh'apedclip portion adapted to suspend the cup in a receptacle by engagement with the rim of the receptacle, and having a'perforation formed in the distal portion ofsaid' handle and corrugations extending longitudinally" of .said handle and past said-perforation:

2 An individual, eggrsize. cup fora steaming egg cooker,- said cup being 'forme'dof thin metal and-comprising a shallow imperforate bowl and a handle integral with and extendinglaterally from said;bowl, said handle having intermediate itsends an-inverted U-shaped clip for engaging the ifim'of a receptacletosuspend the cup in the receptacle, said clip being bendable to fit rims like flange or an external flange or is made merely in the form of a disc. r

In Fig.5 of'the drawing, a pluralityof cups, made in. accordance with' the invention, are

of various hapes, and a rim portion intermediate the handleandbowl and shaped to extend chordally within the receptacle whereby the ends of said rim portion provide with the handle a three point engagement with the receptacle.

e asses 

